Ash
by TheBatmanGeek
Summary: After the castastrophic boom that lit the Atlantic horizon; Gotham begins mourning, but does Selina?
1. Reaching out

~ All characters and Places are owned by DC comics and Warner Brothers ~

The frozen ground below her feet shook as the catastrophic boom lit the hazy horizon, a hot breeze brushed past her blowing the settling ash from her chocolate-brown hair. Selina felt a knot twist her stomach. Adrenaline started pulsing through her, anger, guilt, sorrow; she held it in.

Gordon could see her crumble in front of him; with the kindness of heart he had, he solemnly placed a tense hand on her shoulder which was now starting to tremble; "I'm sorry." The worn man muttered to her, not caring for a response he walked away without a sound.

She could still feel him on her lips, the way he looked at her through his mask; kindred. Tender. Standing in the silent shadows staring into the abyss frozen ocean; Selina kneels down placing her head in her hands, and starts to cry. Her whole body shaking almost as if it was trying to fight the thought. _He can't be gone._

Remains of the Gotham Bridge stood towering out of the lazy waves- Citizens pulled their families close, bracing the moment; they had someone to cry with. Some stand over the rails gazing down into the coming tides hoping that perhaps something would wash up; but nothing. Pulling off her mask, she throws it aside angry, red with emotions. Ash twinkles down from the vast sky that swallowed up the clouds of smoke spitting from the Gotham streets; crawling to her feet, dazed as she was; Selina ran.

Staggering along the shoreline, choking on the sharp taste of smoke and gasoline. It burnt the pit of her chest with her wheezing breaths Selina climbs into the foot of the bridge with the city scrambling above her; leaning against an enormous cement pillar that held what's left of the bridge above the water- She looked down into the grey waves, they curled over then crushed back into the rocking surface brushing up against the bridge's edge. Taking a deep shivering breath the mist floated up from her lips fading from sight- _just like Bruce_ she whimpered to herself. _Here one minute. Gone the next._ An unsual glimmer caught the corner of her eye- it looked like a cloth floating just above the surface, lingering. She reached across and pulled it in gazing at it; mostly singed away; Bruce's cape. A jolt of panic spiked through her- _He could have made it_- Scrambling her stiletto boots off and tucking off her gloves, Selina took a leap into the black bone chilling water.

She wanted to scream, cry from the stinging cold, floating down into the ribbons of pale sunlight under the rocking surface, a shadow was sinking further into the black abyss; struggling through the currents with her aching arms she reached out-

"_Oh." He chuckled reluctantly "You don't seem happy to see me." Selina showed little approval for his unexpected arrival; "You were supposed to be a shut in." _

"_I felt like some fresh air." He added. Selina sighed with some annoyance; Bruce studied the gleaming pearls around her neck- "Why didn't you call the police?" she hissed._

"_I have a... powerful friend who deals with these sorts of things..."_

Clenching her teeth holding in what was left of her air. She caught a hand full of his loose cascading cape in her fist-

"_There's a storm coming Mr. Wayne." She purred tugging at his shoulder; "You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits..." She sided across his back to bring her lips to his ear; "You're all going to wonder how you could ever live so large... and leave so little for the rest of us." _

"_You sound like you're looking forward to it." Bruce softly pulled her hand away from his shoulder- Selina gleamed behind the lace mask;_

"_I'm adaptable." _

~0~

Blake shoved his numb cold hands into his jacket pockets digging for his cigarettes; he usually never smokes, but a deep hole in his gut was telling him to do _something. _Bringing the dry blunt roll to his lips, the heat from the lighter felt like a kiss to his numb cheeks. He took a long deep breath the warm smoke tickled his throat.

"You smoke?"

He turned around a little stunned; Gordon was solemnly glaring at the young detective stood behind him. Blake chuckled shamefully; "Not usually..." The withered man pulled a crooked smile- "You got an extra roll?" Blake pulled out his last butt; "Stressed sir?" "I always am." He proclaimed lighting his roll. "Always will be." Blake felt uneasy, a little sick to the stomach; "He's gone isn't he."

Gordon dug his boots into the crispy snow below him- "I'm afraid he is son... But it was... not for nothing..." He glared into the horizon of the ocean- "I never got to say thank you..."

The young detective threw his dead cigarette into the snow and patted the old man on the shoulder; "And you'll never have to." He left the commissioner deep in thought.

To be continued..


	2. Talk to me

Epoch of excuse  
vanity of brought  
nightmare from.  
Labyrinth of costs.

Archaic reigns of evil ties.  
Sacrilegious rotten the life.

It's vanity,  
without a depth of quench.

Loss of identity  
the chosen so valiant.  
They walk so silent...  
without a voice to be heard.

Silenced by anti-heroes that turncoat.  
The villain masquerade as the unbiased truth.  
As a victim of change. As a habit wane away.

Eons pass in a single tear in the years that pass.  
Shed like skin, vain broken the tide of sound.

Weighed by the depth of time.  
Echoes in a solemn hall awaiting the last strikes of joy.  
To open wide spread like a vague sight that is transgressed sighs.  
Let open the past, the future unwritten measured  
by a time table nay the life.

Living with crime ridden world.  
With hideous desires of stalking murder.  
I am the night, and the hero to apprehend.  
To let go of the criminally insane, to let go  
of my own anger. As they can wallow in a cell.  
With their repulsive files.

- Written by Reflectionshadow via

~0~

"There's more to you than that." He proclaims, Selina shakes her head in doubt.

It goes silent for a second, they just gaze at eachother- "Sorry to keep letting you down..." She frowns at at the frozen ground; ashamed of what this has come to.

"Come with me." She gapes. "Save yourself."

Batman notices the tiny glimmer of tears behind her mask; she sneers; "You don't owe these people anymore, you've given them everything."

In the wieght of the moment; he could just leave. But he stays; still gazing at her.

"Not everything. Not yet."

Conciousness floods back slowly, spiralling, twisting to a faint blur. He feels his shoulders being shaken, then a voice.

"Bruce?"

Trying to pinpoint the voice, _Selina is that you?_

There's no reply.

"Bruce please..."

_Selina... I_

Her voice is soft, but muffled by the tears. He wants to touch her face; to let her know he's there. But he can't.

Violent volts of pain ran up and down his back, he feels his shoulders shake agian by tense hands; "Bruce?"

She fades into view, the first thing he notices that she's looming over him; with a storm in her eyes- "Talk to me." She says.

His blue swollen lips remained frozen; but she could see what he was saying through his mask- _Thankyou_. Most of his armour torn away revealing cuts and deep wounds, his cape singed away from the heat of the blast. Selina pressed down on his stab wound, all thanks to Miranda or _Talia _as she called herself- he winced as she pulled her hands away, then to realize they were stained with blood- _Dammit._

"Look, you have to stay awake. Just look at me."

Vision blurs, fizzes; his head spins- Selian's no longer there.

_Where am I?_

"Home."


End file.
